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Unit 1 – 8,000 BCE – 500 BCE
SCRIPTED CHART
Mesopotamia
SOCIAL STRUCTURES
 Economic, Social Classes
 Gender Roles, Relations
 Inequalities
 Family, Kinship
 Racial, Ethnic Constructs
CULTURE
 Cultural
 Intellectual
 Arts, Architecture
 Lifestyles, Entertainment
 Literatures
Mesopotamia: Social Classes: 3 social groups: nobles, commoners, slaves
Nobles – royal and priestly officials and their families.
Commoners – worked for the palace & temple estates as farmers,
merchants, fishers, and crafts people.
Slaves – palace, building projects, temple, females weave cloth/grind grain.
Patriarchal society.
Sumer: Epic of Gilgamesh (flood story) Architecture: Invented the dome
and arch. Art: woolen textiles, pottery and pottery wheel, metal work.
Math & Science: # system based on 60, geometry to measure
fields/buildings. Astronomy: charted the heavenly constellations. Ziggurat:
massive stepped tower/temple, dedicated to the chief god/goddess.
RELIGION
 Religion
 World Views
 Philosophy
 Secularism, Atheism
 Ideologies and “isms”
Mesopotamia: Beliefs, teachings: believed the god/goddess owned/ruled the
city-state. Priests and priestesses supervised the temple property.
Polytheistic: 3,000 gods/goddesses. Gloomy afterlife.
INTERACTIONS
 War, Conflict
 Trade, Commerce
 Exchanges, Migrations
 Diplomacy, Alliances
 Transnational Organizations
Sumerians were overthrown by the Akkadians (1st empire, Sargon leader) –
land was flat, open to invasion by other groups.
Hebrews: monotheistic, direct relationship with God.
Mesopotamia: Trade: farming, fishing, and industry.
Phoenicians: sea-farers colonized the Mediterranean Sea.
POLITICS
 Nations, nationalism
 Empires
 Forms of Government
 Revolts, Revolutions
 State-building, expansion
Mesopotamia: State structure: city-states, cities surrounded by a
wall/defense towers.
Leaders: Kings derived their power from the gods & were agents for the
gods. Kings had power, led armies, supervised the building of public works,
and organized workers for irrigation projects.
Babylon: Hammurabi was an Amorite, led the Babylonians; established
Hammurabi’s Law Code based on “an eye for an eye”.
Hebrews: Moses; Ten Commandments from God on Mt. Sinai.
War: Assyrians overran the Kingdom of Israel.
TECHNOLOGY
 Industry
 Science, Invention, Innovation
 Power
 Transportation
 Communication
Sumerians: invented the wheel, sundial, sun-baked bricks, made bronze
from tin/copper.
Cuneiform (wedge shapes) on clay tablets; used for record keeping, texts
were used in schools to train scribes.
Hittites: 1st to use iron extensively.
Phoenicians; Developed the alphabet; adopted by the Greeks and Romans
and improved their ships.
ECONOMICS
 Industrialization
 Economic Systems
 Capitalism, Socialism
 Business Organizations
 Labor, Labor Organizations
Mesopotamia: trade, farming, and industry. Imported copper, tin, timber.
Exported dried fish, wool, barley, wheat, metal goods.
DEMOGRAPHY
 Demography, Disease
 Human/ Environment Interaction
 Patterns of Settlement
 Geography, Region
 Agriculture, Pastoralism
Mesopotamia is located in the fertile crescent between the Mediterranean
Sea and Persian Gulf. Mostly desert, rivers flooded/unpredictable/left fertile
silt. Movement: traded with E. Mediterranean to India. Farming could only
be done when people controlled the flow of the rivers through irrigation.
Lydia: first to coin money
Phoenicians traded purple dye, glass, and lumber from Lebanon.
Nomads/Hebrews: moved with herds/on the fringe of civilizations. Spread
ideas.
KEY VOCABULARY
Empire: large political unit or state usually under a single leader that controls many people and
territories.